.357 carry gun ?

[41 Magnum]

I stopped in at my LGS yesterday, to look at snubby .357's. He had S&W's Taurus', Rossi's, & the Ruger LCR. He said I could use snap caps he had to try the trigger on each of them. I was both surprised & disappointed at the same time. The Taurus had a very hard gritty pull, followed by a very disappointing trigger on the Smith also, which was not only very stiff, but seemed to hit a wall, just before letoff. Actually, the Rossi was slightly better than either the Taurus or the Smith. The absolute best, by far, was the LCR !! Smooth as butter !! Don't get me wrong, as I truly love my Rugers, but the S&W was number two of the worst out of four !!! I guess they are going downhill lately, as I was told.

I have a couple older Smiths, so that is really a disappointment to me.

 

[Lee Martin]

I've carried these two 357 Magnum Smiths since the mid-90s:

I always liked Ruger durability but chose S&W due to their actions. Sounds like they've slipped a bit in recent years though.

 

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

J frame triggers are not generally regarded as top shelf. Bump up to a K-frame and you'll probably like it better. But it is really hard to beat a LCR trigger.

 

[Tslepebull]

J-frame revolvers of any manufacturer are difficult to get smooth due to the small size of parts and coil mainsprings. The LCR is an exception to that rule.

Personally I have found the Taurus K-frame and L-frame size revolvers to be surprisingly smooth out of the box and they compare well with a tuned Smith or tuned Security Six.

 

[mike7mm08]

The hot market for carry guns is to blame. Smiths and even tuarus can have great triggers. But they require a bit of work. More work then they are willing to put into them. The LCR seems to have overcome the trigger problems in the design somehow. Other than being somewhat long I have yet to handle a LCR with a bad trigger. Best trigger of any revolver I own is a L frame smith single action anyways. Best double action is by far my SRH in 480.